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I’ve obviously been walking around blind for the last two months or my ‘usual’ observant self has failed hopelessly.

Last night was a super cool surprise 30th birthday party thrown by my lovely sneaky lady. It has been truly crazy time at work recently and I can only think that I’ve been too distracted not to notice the crazy things that have been happening. Where do I start to explain all the crazy little white lies that have been told to me in the last couple of months, while Kerry has been planning this party without me knowing a thing.

I didn’t have a cooking clue what was going on behind me… in theory. The ‘story’ was…Kerry says: “we are going out for dinner, don’t worry my sister has paid for it, so it wont come out of our non-existent budget for eating out…our reservation is for 8:15pm at a restaurant in Rickmansworth but first we need to go via the church to help Dave put up some Christmas lights up”…that was the rouse. I didn’t think anything of it. Even approaching the church and seeing some of the lads from church cars parked outside nothing clicked. Even going through the door and seeing a table full of ‘booze’, still the brain was still only thinking ‘we’re only going to be here for about 10/15min and then we going to dinner to have a quiet evening. When suddenly… I heard about 40/50 of my friends and family shout SURPRISE… All I could do was turn around to my lovely wife and sob on her shoulder and blubbering something along the lines of…How? Why? And then… Thank you… Thank you. Needless to say I manned up after that and enjoyed my first surprise party organised brilliantly behind my back. It will certainly never be forgotten and heaven forbid I don’t think my ticker can go through that jolt again.

There are so many little things I said along the way that Kerry thought I knew what was cooking. Even to the point that while we were travelling last night to the church ‘before we went out’ I said to Kerry…’you don’t really hide things very well do you?’ Kerry thought I’d had known for a while and was about to tell her I knew, but I was talking about the shopping bag left on our bed which had receipts in for the shoes she had bought me with my vouchers. Needless to say Kerry’s secret was still intact, even minutes before the actual event.

Yesterday morning we had a difference of opinion, which ended in tears and tension, about whom Kerry had chosen to baby-sit our 3 little ones while went go out for ‘dinner’. I couldn’t understand how none of our family that we have around us or even close friends would have volunteered to help us out. I said things that have bitten me of the bum like…’she doesn’t have a compassionate bone in her body’, needless to say I felt terrible after knowing that there was a clear reason why no one would baby sit for us due to the fact that they were all waiting at the party. And one of the cherries on the top was finishing work late at 5:45pm and then getting a phone call to go and pick up our babysitter due to the fact that Kerry couldn’t leave the children by themselves… all part of the plan, I now know.

There are so many other little things that one could mention of how my super sneaky wife planned everything, like hording small amounts of cash (which actually I found a couple of months back, then I hid it and almost scuppered her plans which were the in the infancy and all I got told was ‘trust me!’, just ‘trust me!’). Saving up to purchase things for the party to even storing it at the neighbour’s house while they were away so I wouldn’t notice all the goodies. And the strict budget that we are working on now a day was not affected thanks to Mr. Sainsbury’s and Nectar points which can be used to purchase groceries.

Kerry in theory had to use an alternative method of paying due to that me being the Bank Manager at home and at work and having the ability to know when Kerry has shopped and where and how much as been spent, so much so that a few months ago I phoned her to check a transaction which only happen in the last 30mins. I know that may sound like I don’t trust my wife’s spending ability, but when one is watching every penny…. anyway enough said on that.

Anyway after a crazy night last to a crazy couple of days ahead, I turn 30 and then Kerry’s turns 31 years of age. We have both turned the corner, into our 30’s and have our 3 little kiddies.

Well I guess after all that went above, anything else I write wont really live up to it, all I can say I have new appreciation for my wife and even though she will admit that her romantic side is not the strongest, I think this gesture that she pulled off more than makes up for it.

Other news is that we have enjoyed having Dodo with us for the last couple of weeks. Kerry’s mom; Sharon has been with the kiddies and us. It has been great to have the extra pair of hands around and don’t tell my wife but I know where Kerry gets the cooking from…its her mom that’s for sure. We have been eating well…. enough said.

Another significant event happened in the Botha household a couple of weekends ago, we had 3 grannies in one house. Yes Granny Trish, my step-mom was over from PE after coming over for her boy’s graduation and spending the Saturday with us, my mom popped around and we had Sharon with us too. Needless to say that our 3 little ones were beside themselves, having all the wrinklies in one house…hee hee. Don’t tell them I said that!

It was great to catch up with Trish and her brother Bernard who also joined her. They spent the night here Saturday en route to Coventry where my step-bros stay and they were doing that funny hat and gown thing. Huge congratulations to them for completing their degrees and wish them well in their careers.

Quick update on our little 3… Jenna who is 3 going on 33…trying to tell the time and her enquiring mind is always putting things together and if something is out-of-place she will tell you. A note to self is: try not assist her too much! I get told, no daddy I can do it myself. Carter is starting to say more words rather than the animal sounds, and as ever he is into everything but thank goodness that our Good Lord gave me a son to try to deal with these ladies. Our little Tamsin is now an army soldier and is commando crawling and Dodo has help in teaching her to wave and clap…. My oh my are we surprised at how quickly our little Tam Tam is picking up things.

Kerry has started the crazy journey back to work to make our budget stretch a little more, it’s still a crazy time to see if it is all going to work out, so any extra prayers for that budget will be helpful.

I think that’s about it for now, it’s certainly been a crazy last 48 hours but I will never forget it thanks to my beautiful wife!!!

Loads of love to all that read this as you journey through this crazy time of the year.

Trust all the planning and planning and planning is going ahead according to plan…you know what I mean, and if your loved one decides to go out for dinner and not tell you where you going and you going via another venue first……ask more questions as you might just get a surprise that you will never forget.

Last night was spent at a good friends daughters sweet 16th party! Man that takes me back almost 15 years… feeling old and wrinkly!!

Oh the days when everything in life was a big deal, where other people’s opinions meant the world to us (mmm… maybe I still haven’t changed that much sometimes?!), where boys and girls wanted to mix but weren’t too sure exactly how to go about it, when sneaky arms around the back of our chair mad our heart beat fast, when couples holding hands formed in dark corners, when every social event warranted a new outfit and hairdo!

It was such fun, a bit of a time warp… but good fun! Jenna (3 years) and Carter (18 months) spent all evening boogying to “move it like Jagger”, “lazy song” “baby you’re a firework” with some glow sticks and snacking on junk food – what more could a toddler want!

2 knackered babies passed out and the back of the car is silent…. and a little voice says “that was the best party, I loved ALL those songs, they were all my favorites”.

Who needs kids party games… at our next party all I’m gonna do is stick some Maroon 5 and Bruno Mars on and get the room rocking!

Having 3 children means mess! it means toys all over the floor, wiping bums, hoovering, cleaning and ensuring that there are enough child friendly snacks around to prevent a tantrum! But every now and again we all need a little bit of posh in our lives!

We had such a lovely play date this week with good friends who love a bit of posh! So instead of just throwing a lunch together for the kids we had a party! The kids made and decorated some crowns (Carter just tore his and made a mess eating strawberries instead), made some fruit hedgehogs and decorated some cupcakes for the party! They then put on their party clothes (one cinderella and one spanish dancer) with their crowns whilst the mommies sorted out the prawn and smoked salmon with cream cheese crackers – perfectly presented on a stand with little segments of lemon! Crisps, olives and crisps completed the buffet!

I wish I had taken some photies! I will have to request the ones taken by our friend!

All in all a lovely morning and Jenna can’t stop telling people about her special party lunch with her friends! What a lovely way to take an ordinary event and turn it into a special occasion!

And I’m pleased to say my children enjoyed their first taste of prawns and salmon! They obviously take after their mom’s taste buds!